Students conduct DeLand 'commission' for a night

DeLand High School junior Michael Morgan sat comfortably in the mayor's chair in City Commission chambers Monday night as Mayor Bob Apgar looked on from the audience.

ANTHONY DeFEOSTAFF WRITER

DELAND — DeLand High School junior Michael Morgan sat comfortably in the mayor's chair in City Commission chambers Monday night as Mayor Bob Apgar looked on from the audience. In fact, high school students filled all of the commissioners' chairs, as well as those of the city manager and city attorney. There hadn't been a sudden, drastic change of leadership in the city. Morgan, along with about 15 other high school students from DeLand High School and Taylor Middle-High School, participated in a mock city commission meeting Monday, taking place two hours prior to the commission's regular meeting. At the meeting, the students went through proper procedure and debated contentious issues exactly the same way commissioners would at a real City Commission meeting. The exercise was part of the students' studies at the DeLand Area School of Government. Commissioners Leigh Matusick and Phil Martin acted as members of the public, addressing the mock city commission on different issues. Matusick asked the city to consider allowing residents to keep chicken coops. Martin, on the other hand, spoke up as a member of the public when the commission was considering implementing a red light camera much as the real one has in the past. He lamented that he would be unfairly punished, because he often lent his car to an irresponsible, red-light-running brother -- played by the city's special events coordinator Michael Grebosz, who was sitting nearby. The mock commission punted on the chicken coop matter, but adopted the red light camera program. The DeLand Area School of Government -- a partnership between the city, Volusia CountySchools and the DeLand Area Chamber of Commerce -- is a program that selects a limited number of high school students and teaches them about different aspects of the city's government. Starting in October, the students meet for six hours each week in different locations, talking to different government officials and learning about all of the facets of municipal government. The mock commission meeting serves as the course's capstone. "I think they did rather well. They used the experiences they've had with what they've learned about local government," said Scott Hallett, a social studies specialist with the school district and one of the program's organizers. "I thought it was fun that we got to do that and be in the official building and sit in the seats of the real commissioners. I enjoyed the experience," said Alexa Valko, who acted as one of the city commissioners Monday. Valko, a junior at DeLand High School, said she's always been interested in government and appreciated the opportunity to take part in it. She plans to become a psychiatrist and said knowing how the government works is important in managing certain cases, especially when it comes to children. "It definitely was a learning experience," said mayor-for-the-night Michael Morgan. "Before I really had no idea how a local government worked. But from this I became interested in how it worked and the different aspects of how it functioned." "He did a nice job up there," Apgar said. "I think the students did a fine job. It always, as I said, makes me feel good about the future of our country and our city and state when you see young people that are interested in government." The actual City Commissioner met at 7 p.m. as always, with a light agenda. The commission voted to approve an alcohol license for an event benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project on April 19. Commissioners also voted to set another workshop on May 6 at 5 p.m. to complete the city's ongoing review of its land development regulations.